Pop singer Troye Sivan recently appeared on BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge to cover Billie Eilish’s poignant “What Was I Made For?” The South Africa native added an ’80s flare to the sweeping ballad. In Eilish’s version, she is backed up by a straight piano tone. Sivan added a synth tone to his version that roots the cover more in his personal musical style.
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Sivan keeps his vocals intimate and soft. The instrumentation slowly builds throughout. When did it end? All the enjoyment / I’m sad again, don’t tell my boyfriend / It’s not what he’s made for / What was I made for, he sings towards the end of the song.
The song appears on the Barbie soundtrack. It has quickly become a hit for Eilish, which makes it the perfect song for Sivan to cover on the lauded radio series. The Barbie soundtrack is full of hits, including “What Was I Made For.”
“If you set out to make a soundtrack that could summon up the essence of the Goliath figure that is Barbie, it would be hard to be displeased with the outcome Gerwig and Ronson have come up with here,” American Songwriter wrote in a review of the soundtrack. “It’s fun, blithe, and hopeful, just like the doll herself.”
Sivan’s appearance at the Live Lounge comes amid the release cycle for his third studio album. The project, Something to Give Each Other, will arrive on October 13.
Sivan called the project a “celebration of sex, dance, sweat, community, queerness, love and friendship.” Featured on the track list are previously released songs “Rush” and “Got Me Started.” “Rush” has become a mega-hit for Sivan, boasting more than 180 million streams.
“‘Rush’ is the feeling of kissing a sweaty stranger on a dancefloor, a two-hour date that turned into a weekend, a crush, a winter, a summer,” Sivan said in a statement. “Party after party, after party after after party. All of my experiences from a chapter where I feel confident, free and liberated. Independent, yet somehow the most connected to the music and community around me.”
Photo by Terrence O’Connor, Courtesy of Capitol Music Group
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